Guerlesquin

Guerlesquin is a characteristic Breton village with a rich architectural heritage and a long history of continuous prosperity.

A small fortified settlement existed on this site in the mid-11th century and replaced shortly thereafter by a chateau. No vestiges of it remain. Commerce was already flourishing when the town obtained the rights of a city from the Duke of Brittany in the 14th century; this included the right to determine weights and measures. In 1525 Pierre de Rohan ordered a building to contain the market hall and, above it, rooms for the court. There was also a room where grain was measured. The two stone pits of different sizes used for this purposed were moved in front of the prison entrance. The privilege of weighing grain was important source of revenue for the town. In the early 19th century the upper floors of the market were used as schoolrooms, but frost damaged the building later that century and the original market had to be replaced. The current granite façade dates from 1975.


At the center of Guerlesquin is a large main square bordered by granite houses and monuments. The harmony of the buildings is due to the nearby sources of granite and especially to a major guild of stonemasons in the town, beginning in the Middle Ages and continuing through the centuries.

More modest houses were built in the surrounding streets. The square was the center of regional fairs, an important source of the town’s wealth. A pamphlet mentions that in 1732, in addition to the Monday market, there were 19 annual fairs for such items as fabric, lard, bread, wine, and horses; in 1900 there were 17 animal markets; these tapered off gradually from 1947 to 1967.

In addition to being a marketplace, this square was once a battlefield used to train the local militia to fight the English. Now it is now a lovely garden with a pretty fountain and a path bordered by eglantines, roses and flowers. An old archway, with flowers posed on its stones, is placed as if it were a formal entrance to the garden. The arch came from a church that had been demolished. Flowers are everywhere; there are plantings in front of the houses on the square and everywhere in the town.

Guerlesquin’s most impressive monument is a fortified prison close to the square. It was built in 1640 as a kind of town hall for the judiciary; the gallows were beside it in the square. It is a square tower with four small towers at each angle. Two Renaissance windows let light in on the upper part of the east and west sides; near the upper window are two panels that jut out from the facade; these are latrines. This is one of many buildings saved from destruction by Prosper Merimee who, as an inspector of monuments, listed it on his inventory. (He was also a writer; Carmen is his best-known work).

The church of St Ténénan is opposite the other end of the square. The original church dates from the 16th century and was built by the architect Beaumanoir. The openwork bell tower is in his style and remains atop the new church. The original church, in danger of collapsing, was replaced in 1859 in the same neogothic style of the time. Some of the stones that had been removed during the demolition were used to build the new church. A cylindrical tower next to it encloses a winding staircase that leads to the bell chamber and balustrade. At the side of the church there is a lovely garden of hydrangeas and a medicinal herb garden.

The flowered and tree-lined square, the elegant stone houses surrounding it, and the prison and church form an ensemble that looks like a quiet country scene preserved as if it were a painting.

A video at http://www.guerlesquin.fr/fr/office-de-tourisme.php conveys this idea.

www.guerlesquin.fr (in French)